


The Great Beyond

by ChronicallyOwlish



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Character Study, Ficlet, Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 06:10:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13140708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChronicallyOwlish/pseuds/ChronicallyOwlish
Summary: It went to explore, never knowing what it would find out there in the great beyond.





	The Great Beyond

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tafferling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tafferling/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, Taff!

It had gone to explore, away from comfort, and family, and everything it knew; towards excitement and the great beyond. Out there, where many had gone before, and some had returned--but also where few had ventured. It wanted to see it all, as the young often do. The whole Universe, a place of wonder, of worlds and life and energy--bright and exciting. 

It was frightened, at first. The memories, shared by all, showed that there could be danger out there in the beyond. There were things that no one understood, but though it feared the unknown, it was never alone, and that brought comfort. The network, the life of the Universe, spread far and wide, and wherever it could travel, the network would be there

It was this that led it to this place, so much like the other, where it had gone in search of the comfort of home. It had been traveling for so long, and the network was thin so far from home, and it was lonely, dreaming of the collective of warmth and love. The network shone like a beacon, a bright pulsating star in the darkness of space, and it had gone to explore.

There had only been fear there. Fear and pain. The creatures, so small compared to it, had placed it in a space it could not escape. It had never been trapped before. It could sense that they wanted something from it, but what they wanted brought so much pain, and in a moment of chaos it escaped, only to find itself trapped again.

It senses fear from the creatures here, too. Fear, and something new: kindness, wonder--and desperation. This kindness feels like home, and it wants to help them, but it does not know how to communicate, to tell them that what they want, want they need, hurts. It is like ending. It is sure if it keeps going, it will never see home again.

When it begins to believe that all hope is lost, that it will never return to share what it has seen and learned, it senses the one creature again. The one who has shown the most kindness, whose wonder and love fills it with a small sense of comfort amidst the pain. It does not understand the way this creature communicates, the sounds the creature makes constantly, but it senses, even through its defenses, that the creature wants to help.

It wills the creature to let it go. Let it return to its people.

It does not know if, in the end, the creature hears, but when all hope is lost, it finds itself among the stars again, free, safe, enveloped in the network, and it sets its sights to home, to share its memories with its people, both the good and the bad. It is at peace, and it carries with it fear and pain, but also love, and kindness out in the great beyond.


End file.
